Goldogrin

SPOKEN BY

Goldogrin was spoken by the Second Clan of Elves, the Gnomes, and thus the language is often called Gnommish. The Gnomes were later called the Ñoldor.

DOCUMENTED BY

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) explored many languages and cultures as he told the stories of Middle-earth: The Hobbit (1937), The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954), and The Return of the King (1955). (The last three are collectively called The Lord of the Rings.) After his death, his son Christopher Tolkien (1924– ) edited The Silmarillion (1977) with the help of Guy Gavriel Kay (1954– ). Christopher Tolkien then deeply analyzed his father’s notebooks, letters, and drafts to produce an extended study of Middle-earth and its creation: The Book of Lost Tales, Part One (1983), The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two (1984), The Lays of Beleriand (1985), The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986), The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987), The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One) (1988), The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Two) (1989), The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three) (1990), Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Four) (1992), Morgoth’s Ring (The Later Silmarillion, Part One) (1993), The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion, Part Two) (1994), and The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996).

BEHIND THE WORDS

The Ñoldor were originally called the Tatyar, meaning second ones. They were also referred to as Deep Elves and Gnomes. In Middle-earth, they were renowned as smiths, and Fëanor was their greatest craftsman. He created the palantiri, or seeing stones, one of which came into the possession of the wizard Sauruman the White and another of which was held by the Stewards of Gondor until the reign of the last steward, Denethor II.

DERIVATION OF THE LANGUAGE

Goldogrin was less influenced by Welsh phonology than were the later Noldorin and Sindarin. In some respects—for example in the formation of the past tense—it is grammatically similar to English.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE

Nouns have three cases (inessive or nominative, genitive, and allative or dative).

A TASTE OF THE LANGUAGE

agra (adjective)—extreme

ailion (noun)—lake

bothli (noun)—oven

crî (noun)—knife

dulwen (noun)—a feast

ectha (noun)—sword

finthi (noun)—idea

godra (adjective)—joined

heloth (noun)—frost

indos (noun)—house

leptha (noun)—finger

madri (noun)—food

nandor (noun)—farmer

octha (noun)—knee

porogwil (noun)—hen

rodrin (noun)—cavern

saig (adjective)—hungry

tavros (noun)—forest

ubri (noun)—rain

PHILOLOGICAL FACT

Goldogrin is sometimes called I-Lam na-Ngoldathon, or the language of the Noldoli. Some consider it an early form of Sindarin; Tolkien seems to have come to this point of view while writing The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, he had been working on Goldogrin as early as 1917, when he wrote the first drafts of the Legendarium.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Review the works listed above, the resources listed in the bibliography, and the web pages:

“Ardalambion” (www.folk.uib.no/hnohf/), “Cirth” (www.omniglot.com/writing/cirth.htm), “How many languages did J.R.R. Tolkien make?” (www.folk.uib.no/hnohf/howmany.htm), “J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch” (www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html), “Sarati alphabet” (www.omniglot.com/writing/sarati.htm), and “Tengwar” (www.omniglot.com/writing/tengwar.htm).

SPEAKING OF LANGUAGES

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

—George Bernard Shaw